Texas Tech Today

How Human Cognition Can Affect the Spreading of Diseases like Ebola

University of Syndey

November 8, 2017

Science Daily - Taking a scientific approach to health communication.

If you were bitten by a bird, would you be concerned about getting sick? How likely
would you be to seek medical attention? As it turns out, those answers may depend
on your knowledge of other animals' susceptibility to disease.

In psychology, it's called inductive reasoning -- that's the process of generalizing
information to novel scenarios. And according to a new study from the University of
Sydney and Texas Tech University, inductive reasoning can play a big role in how people
perceive the risks involved with animals and infectious diseases.

Dr Micah Goldwater from the University of Sydney's School of Psychology collaborated
with Texas Tech assistant professors Tyler Davis, Molly Ireland and Jason Van Allen
and independent research consultant Nicholas Gaylord.